10 Life Lessons from the 2024 Olympians

Professionals can learn valuable lessons from Olympians because their dedication, discipline, and resilience exemplify the qualities needed to achieve success in any field. These athletes' stories of overcoming obstacles and achieving excellence can inspire any individuals from any background to pursue their own goals with similar passion, discipline, and resilience.

These are some of our favorite lessons learned from watching this year's Olympics:

1. Celebrating other people’s wins takes nothing away from yours

After Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade beat out both Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles in Women’s Floor Artistic Gymnastics, the two American’s affectionately bowed down to their competitor as she was awarded gold. With 6 Olympic medals, Andrade is now the most decorated Brazilian Olympian in history.

2. You define your limits

Nada Hafez is a medical doctor, clinical pathologist, and an accomplished fencer from Egypt. Hafez placed 36th overall in the 2016 Rio Olympics and 29th in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, before placing 16th in this year’s Paris Olympics.

Not only was this the closest she has been to winning the gold, but she accomplished this incredible feat while 7-months pregnant.

3. Learn to bounce back

Sha’Carri Richardson wins silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics after being barred from participating in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics due to testing positive for THC. Richardson since learned from her mistakes and is making a come back even stronger than before.

“I’m not back, I’m better.” She said, “I don't just mean I'm a better runner, it's beyond that. I'm better at being Sha'Carri. I'm better at being myself."

4. You are your own biggest competitor

Olympian Katie Ledecky has broken a total of 14 world swimming records, majority of those involving world records that were previously set by herself. She is also the record holder for most gold medals won by an American female in history. She currently swims at least 10 times a week, and goes to the gym 5 times a week, summing to 25-30 hours solely dedicated to her training.

5. There is no such thing as “the right time”

Only four years ago, USA cyclist Kristen Faulkner was working an office job at a venture capitalist firm before making the life-altering decision to take up cycling professionally. Now, the 31-year-old is the first American to take home the gold in her event since 1984.

6. Age is just a number

Sometimes really is just a number, with no indicator of what somebody is physically capable of, these Olympians prove that:

14-year-old Arisa Trew, of Australia becomes the youngest female to ever land a 900-degree spin, becoming the youngest gold medalist in Paris, and securing Australia’s first gold medal in her event.

Zhiying Zeng, affectionately dubbed as “table tennis grandma”, made her Olympic debut representing Chile at age 58. Nearly 40 years after just missing the opportunity to represent China in the 1984 Olympics.

7. Mental health does not define you or your capabilities

So many of us struggled with mental health during the worldwide Pandemic, USA Olympic runner, Noah Lyles, was no exception. It was a very challenging time to be a human, and he could no longer do what he enjoyed most, so Lyles began struggling with depression.

Lyles remains open about his mental health. Even after winning gold for the men’s 100m race this year, he took a moment to be candid and inspire those that might be struggling.

“I have Asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety, and Depression, but I will tell you that what you have does not define what you can become. Why Not You!"

8. Be a trailblazer

One of the most inspiring parts the Olympics is seeing the athletes of smaller nations represent their country’s with so much pride!

Julien Alfred, is one of four athletes representing St. Lucia, a small Caribbean island with a population of 180,000 in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Alfred not only won her country's first ever Olympic medal, but the gold, for her performance in the women's 100m race.

Thea Lafond, of Dominica, a different Eastern Caribbean island with an even smaller population of just 73,000, accomplished the same feat for her event. Lafond secured her home country’s first ever Olympic gold medal, with her impressive women’s triple jump win.

9. There’s no such thing as overnight success

Runners spend years rigorously training to qualify for the Olympics, a race that will ultimately take less than 10 seconds from start-to-finish. This year, Noah Lyles' winning time in the men’s 100m final was 9.784 seconds, just 5 one thousandths of a second (.005s) quicker than the silver, 9.789 seconds.

10. True Dedication

When Maggie Steffens, USA women’s water polo teammate, took to Instagram to expose that their team was being divided between training for the Olympics AND working 2-3 jobs just to afford competing, the world was shocked to say the least.

When you picture a team of Olympic athletes, you generally don't imagine them struggling to just stay afloat in the competition. Even the USA women’s water polo team, who has won gold for the past three Olympics, unfortunately, struggled due to lack of popularity in the sport.

That is, until American rapper, Flava Flav heard their story and committed to sponsor their team for the next 5 years. This support singlehandedly eased the financial burdens of our women's water polo team, giving them the freedom to thrive, not just survive.